WASHINGTON – The Rev. Al Sharpton wants to be America’s No. 1 black leader, and he thinks now is the time to elbow the Rev. Jesse Jackson aside – after the controversy over Jackson’s illegitimate child, analysts say.

“Sharpton is like a shark and he sees blood in the water. This has been brewing for a long time because Sharpton wants to run for president – and what’s surprising is that it’s so blatant,” said a strategist who knows both men.

Sharpton this week stunned other black leaders by reviving the old charge that Jackson smeared Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s blood on his shirt to promote himself by claiming he held the dying civil rights leader in his arms.

Sharpton said any doubts about his own role in backing Tawana Brawley’s discredited rape claims are nothing compared to what he painted as Jackson’s use of King’s blood after the 1968 assassination.

“Did I take the blood of the guy I loved and put it on my shirt? Let’s talk about who we’re getting behind,” Sharpton, jailed for his Vieques bombing protest, told Fox News in a jailhouse interview.

Asked if he’s trying to replace Jackson as the No. 1 black leader, Sharpton said: “I’m not trying to replace anyone. I think every generation has its activists. He was in his generation. I hope to be in mine.”

One New York congressional staffer said of the hunger-striking Sharpton: “I think Rev. Al needs to eat. This guy sounds like he’s delirious.”

Jackson press secretary Keiana Peyton said: “Certain things we choose not to dignify with a comment and this falls into that category.”

Sharpton issued a statement through his lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, saying he “in no way attacked” Jackson and blamed the press, saying he was referring to “how the press distorted” reports of King’s death.

Insiders said the Sharpton-Jackson tensions go back years, exacerbated by a bitter split on a dispute between Burger King and a millionaire black franchisee named La-Van Hawkins, a Democratic donor who has given a reported $500,000 to Jackson’s operations and an unspecified amount to Sharpton.

Donna Brazile, Al Gore’s campaign manager and one of the nation’s top black strategists, said Sharpton is shooting himself in the foot if he thinks he can get ahead by hitting Jackson.

“Rev. Jackson . . . is by far the most popular black activist politician in the country with more than 80 percent support [among blacks] and Sharpton gets less than 50 percent,” said Brazile.

David Bositis of the Joint Center, a think-tank that focuses on issues of concern to blacks, agreed: “Sharpton isn’t really in Jesse’s league”

Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schnook said: “It sounds like Sharpton is starting to believe the press idea that we need a black messiah for this century. That whole concept is dated.”

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Tale of the Tape: SHARPTON vs. JACKSON

AGE

Jackson: 59

Sharpton: 46

BIGGEST GAFFE:

Jackson: Hymietown

Sharpton: Brawleygate

STRANGEST BEDFELLOWS:

Jackson: Yasser Arafat

Sharpton: Ed Koch

HIGHER CALLING

Jackson: Ordained Baptist minister in 1968, but never had a congregation.

Sharpton: Street preacher from age 4 and ordained a Pentecostal minister at 10.

CLOSE CALLS:

Jackson: With Martin Luther King Jr. when the civil rights leader was assassinated.

Sharpton: Stabbed in the chest by a drunken white man in 1991.

QUOTE

Jackson: “I am somebody.”

Sharpton: “Tawana told the truth.”

CAUSE DU JOUR:

Jackson: Boycotting Toyota SUVs

Sharpton: Protesting U.S. bombing of Vieques

BODY TYPE

Jackson: Strapping former football player battles a bulge around the belly.

Sharpton: Roly-poly, but he’s dropped up to 21 pounds on a jail hunger strike.

LOVECHILDREN:

Jackson: 1

Sharpton: 0

MENTOR:

Jackson: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sharpton: Jesse Jackson

FINANCIAL ILLS:

Jackson: Reportedly helped his empire cash in on threats to boycott several prominent U.S. companies.

Sharpton: Took three years to pay up $87,000 for defaming Steven Pagones – the man he accused of raping Tawana Brawley.